We met Ray on a Wednesday at Mike Burgener's gym as he was off to the side coaching an athlete, teaching how to activate the lats in the overhead squat.

As you'll soon learn, Ray is a really smart coach. He is one of those coaches who has a drill or movement for everything. We got to talking to Ray and were impressed with just how knowledgable he was about movement.

The coolest part is that Ray is mostly self-taught. Through an obsession with the CrossFit® Journal, observing and learning from good coaches, Ray has been able to rapidly up-level his coaching game in a very short time.

In this episode we talk about the value of progressions in teaching movement, how to speed up your growth as a coach, and why you should hold your athletes more accountable for how they move.

PS: To all the coaches (and aspiring coaches) out there, this one is a must listen. Drop us a line in the comments below and let us know what you found to be most valuable in this episode.

PPS: Give Ray a follow on the Insta- @rayregno ...he shares some great coaching content ...and if you ever make it out to San Diego, his gym, CrossFit Stronghold is a good place to add to your bucket list.

Performance Anxiety. It's a thing. Even the best athletes in the world fall victim to it. You put in the work, train hard, and hit the numbers you need to hit in order to be a contender. But when game day comes, something shifts. You question your capabilities, or tell yourself "I don't want to mess up or do bad".

It turns out there is a big difference between saying "I don't want to do bad today" and "I want to perform my best today". That may sound like some feel good nonsense but the truth is, our inner game plays a huge role in how we show up- in competition, in our relationships, and in pretty much all aspects of life.

This week we traveled up to Venice Beach, CA to meet up with Mark England at Paradiso CrossFit. Mark is a language ninja and we dive into how the language we use directly effects how we think and perform.

Mark has some valuable information to share in this episode and has some real world examples of how we can develop the high level mental toughness (or as he puts it "mental finesse) to perform at our best.

We are excited to be offering something special for Shrugged fans in this episode. Mark runs a company called Procabulary. Whether you’re looking to build better relationships, achieve your peak performance goals, or establish a strong financial future, Procabulary provides the tools that support and empower you. The whole Shrugged team has gone through the course, and we have seen amazing results and highly recommend you consider investing in Mark's knowledge.

This week we interview John Glaude. John is not your typical athlete or coach. He is not in the Games, nor does he study myofascial release. We first caught wind of John via his youtube channel. He used to weigh over 300 pounds, throw back 2 liters of soda a day, and the only training he was getting in was a DDR session at his local arcade. A lot has changed since then, and he has since lost over 180 lbs and is hitting two a days in the gym.

We wanted to bring John on the show to talk about motivation, and hear about his journey. John is a bad ass story teller and has created a brand called Obese To Beast where he shares his journey to help others create change like he did.

He is a humble dude, but also has a lot to say. If you have any friends who are just getting started on their fitness journey or would benefit from hearing John's story, this episode is a great one to share.

More dangerous than your opponent is your mind. If it doesn’t support you, you’re beaten before you’ve started. There are really only two types of fear: biological and psychological. -Tony Blauer

When does fear come up-

That moment you step up to a heavy barbell…

When you are getting hit on by someone attractive at a bar…

When you are speaking up to a new group of people…

snakes… spiders…

Fear is always driving us. Our awareness of it is more important than thinking we can ignore it or make it go away.

Tony Blauer has dedicated his life to knowing fear, and learning/teaching others how to manage it. He works with fighters, military units, CrossFitters, and everyone in between. We brought Tony on the show to talk about fear and how we can understand and manage it as athletes. As humans, the fear is build into the programming …the macho “I’m not scared” mentality is as much a lie as it a shitty strategy. Fear is biologically built into us, and ignoring it is impossible. However understanding it, and reacting quickly and appropriately to it is what leads to success in your endevours ....and getting out of bad situations.

We cover the psychology of fear, chat about street fights, and dive into functional movement and personal defense.

Tony runs a section of CrossFit education called CrossFit Spear. It isa full depth course going into the practice of self defense. You can learn more about it at CrossFit.com